berger



April 18, 1939. E. J. BERGER FIC-2 I- INVETOR: Emil JB v A rgr BY TORNEYS.

April 18, 1939.

E. J. BERGER ,602 METHOD OF PRODQCING FULL-FASHIONED STOCKINGS Filed July 50, 1937 2 Sheets-Sheet 2V ZG': HZ

w1' TNESSES:

Patented Apr. ra, ieae PAT fi Emil .i. Berger, Hatfield, Pa., assignor to Dexdale Hosiery Mills, Lansdale, 'Pa., aoorporationol Pennsylvania Application July 30, 1937, Serial No. 156,484.

4 Claims.

This invention relates. to full iashioned stockings and to methods of producing them; and it has reference more particularly to iashloned stockings knitted in one operation on a single machine as distinguished from those wheref the leg blanks are knitted on one machine and transerred to another machine for addition of the feet. A full fashioned stooking blanl: ordinariiy produced under either of the above methods has square heel tabs with straight 'edges in direct continuation with the rear edges of the ankle. As a consequence, the finished stocking fails to accurately fit the foot of the wearer, being tight across the instep and too full at the ankle.

The chief aim of my inventioh is to overcome this deciency, which objective l: attain as hereinafter more fully set forth by reduoing the Width of the ankle portion of the stoclzing blank to a greater extent than usual; then resorting to pro gressive widening for a time to form hee] projections which extend outward beyond the side edges of the anl:ie portion at opposite sides of the blank, and then to progressive narrowing for a, time to round the bottoms of said projections and to predetermine smooth mergence of their edges into the side edges oi the stocking foot portion, so that the completed stocking conforms ac0urately to the human foot. The widening I eiect by periodicaliy transferring groups of end loops of the fabric' outward from neeclles en which they are formed to.adjacent needles with the aid of the usual transfer point com'bs of the produoing machine, and by concurrently and periodically increasing the throw of the main yarn carrier by a somewhat larger amount each time. As a result of this procedure, the edges of the upper portions of the heel projections are caused to slope outwardiy relative to the edges of the ankie portion with incidental formation of lines of open meshes which extend substantially vertically of the blank within the hee] areas. The narrowing I accomplish by periodically transferring lesser numbers of end loops inward variantly, likewise by means of the transfer point combs, to produce the desired rounding at the bottoms of the heel projections and to determine smooth mergence of their edges, ti=iibgh reverse curvatures, into the side edges of the foot portion r the stocking blank, with incidental formation of fashioning sutures which lie within the heel arcas closer to the edges of the biank than the, lines of open meshes and which extend well into the foot portion; and then I complete the foot portion without removingthe blank from the machine.

(Ci. osse) In connection with e. stocking having the above attributes, it is a. further object of my invention to provide reinforced areas within which the lines of open meshes and narrowing sutures of the hee] are included, and at the same time de.- termine a cradle foot contour in said reinforcements.

Other objects and attendant advantages will appear from the following detailed description of the attached drawings wherein Fig. I is a side elevation of my improved stocking.

Fig. II is an enlarged fragmentary view of the hee] portion of the stocking.

* Figs. III and IV are diagrammatic views showing successive steps in the production of my new stocking in one operation on a flat lmitting maohine.

As pictured in Fig. I, the stocking has a leg portion i, which is tapered downwardly from the top by progressive stages to the region of the ankle 2 and which has lines of fashioning marks appearing at 23 and i. The widened upper part of the heei 5, it will he observed extends outwardly beyond the normal back line of the ankle 2 while the bottom of the hee! is rounded as at 6 and merges smoothly as at l through a reverse curve into the bottom of the foot portion t. Due to being fashioned in the manner presentlv explained in greater detail, a series of open meshes Si and a suture line it is formed at each side of the stocl:ing within the heel arca. The open meshes extend along straight lines at a siight angie to the vertical and are in turn disposed at a slight angie relative to the back of the heel. The sutures Mi on the other hand, are closer to the back edge of the stocking and extend well into. the foot portion; The stocking is, moreover, reinforced at each side as indicated by the conventional shading, said reinforcement extending from the point in the ankie 2 Well above the uppermost of the open meshes 9 downward through the hee] portion 5, along the bottom of the foot portion 8 and across the toe I i, the inner iim'iting or boundary line ,i2 of said reinforce- 'ment defining a cradle foot effect. -It is to be 4 transfer point combs I9 and 20. The leg portion i of the stockng, I knit in the usual way down to the line w-a in theankle except for continuing the narrowing for a somewhat longer period than usual to predetermine an ankle of correspondingly smaller girth. Upon reaching the line aa (Figs. II and III) the reinforcing yam carriers I'l and l8 are brought into action to produce the*high heel reinforcements at opposite sides of the blank down to a course bb, the throw of said carriers being maintained uniform during this time with the reinforcements terminating in lines I2, |2. Upon reaching the course b b, the transfer point combs l9 and 20 are shifted inwardly so that their innermost points register with the needles at least two Wales outwardly from the inner lines I2 of the reinforcement in neadiness' for the widening phase of the knitting to form the heel projections. During the iatt er operation, the combs l9 and 20 are moved outwardly periodically, for example a distance of one needle in every second course of the knittng as instanced at the right hand of Fig. III, and the loops of the fabric on the end groups of the needles covered by said points, transferred,outwardly to adjacent needles with the resultant formation of the lines of open meshes 9. Concrrently with the shifts of the point combs l9 and 20 as just explained, the out- Ward throw of both the main yam carrier IB and the reinforoing yarn carriers H and l8 is increased each time by a distance of several needles, for example two, so that the edges of theupper portion of the heel projections are caused to slope outward1y and downwardly with respect to the outer edges of the ankle portion 2 at an inclination to-the lines of open meshes 9. Thewidening is continued until a line cc is reached, when preferably a few courses are knit without the use of the point combs and without change in the outward throw of the yam carriers lB-l8, to a line dd before the narrowing phase of, the heel knitting is begun. The point combs G9 and 20 are next shifted outward so that their innermost points are distanced inward from the edges of the heel projections by several needles in readiness for the narrowing operation to round the bottoms of the heel projections. To effect the narrowing, the outward throw of the main and reinforcing yam carrier i6l8 is reduced at variant intervals during the knitting, concurrently with variant inward shifting of the point combs l9 and 20 to transfer the loops on the covered needles to adjacent needles, with incidental formation of the lines of narrowing marks lll.

Between the courses dd and ee, there may be for example twelve narrwings, one for every fourth course; between the courses ee and f-f twenty narrowings, one at every second course; and between the courses f-f and gg eight narrowings, one every fourth or sixth course. As a result, the heel projections are shaped to conform accurately to the human foot with their bottom edges sharply but smoothly rounded and merging through curvatures of greater radii into' the side edges of the foot portion as already pointed out. The foot portion 8 of the stocking may be formed as illustrated with the reinforcement extending across the toc II. During the knitting of the lower part of the ankle 2, the heel projections and the greater part of the foot, the inner limit of throw of the reinforcing yam carriers ll and l8 is kept fixed as will be noted from Figs. III and IV. However, due to the fashioning of the heel pr0jectionsin the manner above explained, there is obtained a cradle eflect as shown in Flg. I wherein the segments l2a of the inner lines 12 of the reinforcements are sloped diagonally of the heel.

While for convenience of explanation herein I have referred to but a single main yam carrier IE, in practice I prefer to employ several of such carriers and to control them so that they feed their respective yarns to the needles in a predetermined repeating sequence after a well known manner for attainment of ringless fabric.

From the foregoing, it will be apparent that I have devised a new method whereby perfectly shaped stockings can be expeditiously and economically produced on a single knitting machine without interruption in the knitting except for the turning of the Welts at the tops of the stockings. It will be realized, however, that it is also possible to produce the stocking of my inventioh after the manner ordinariiy practiced in full fashioned stocking manufactura, that is to say, the leg portion down to the course cc in Fig. II may be knitted on a legger, and the leg blank thereupon transferred to a footer for completion of the stocking foot.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

l. The method of producing a full fashioned stocking blank in one operation on a knitting mchine havng a series of needles, a reciprocating yam carrier and a pair of laterally shiftable loop transferring point combs, which comprises knitting the leg as a narrowed web down to the ankle; thereupon forming laterally-extendng heel projections at opposite edges of the blank by periodically increasing the throw of the yam carrier and at the same timeoutwardly'transferring groups of end loops at opposite sides of the blank from the needles on which they were formed to adjacent needles; thereupon shaping the bottoms of the heel projections by decreasing the traverse of the yam carrier and concurrently transferrihg end groups of the loops inward of opposite side edges of the blank, first at relastocking blank in one operation on a knltting the yam carrier and at the same time outwardly 4 transferring groups of end loops at opposite sides of the blank from the needles on which they were formed to adjacent needles; thereupon shaping the bottoms of the heel projections by decreasing the traverse of the yam carrier and concurrently transferring end groups of the loops inward of opposite side edges of the blank firs't at relatively infrequent intervals for a time, then at more frequent intervals for a time, and then again at less frequent intervals for a time; and thereafter knitting the stocking foot in direct continuation.

3. The method of producing a full fashioned stocking blank in one operation on a knitting machine having a series of needles, a reciprocating main yam carrier, a pair of reinforcing yarn carriers and a pair of laterally shiftable loop transferring point c(jnbs, which comprises knitting the leg as a narrowed web down to the ankle; thereupon forming laterallyextending heel projections at opposite edges of the blank by periodicallyincreasing the throw of the main yarn carrier, and at the same time outwardly transferring groups of end loops at opposite sides of the blank from the needles on Which they were formed to adjacent needles; thereupon shaping the. bottoms of the hee] pr0jections by decreasing the traverse of the main yarn carrier and the outward throw-of the -reinforcing yarn carriers and concurrently transferrng end groups of the loops inward of opposite side edges of the blank first at relatively infrequent intervals for a time, and then at more frequent intervals for a time; and thereafter knitting the stocking foot in direct continuation.

4. The method of producing a full fashioned stocking blank in'one operation on a knitting machine having "a 'seriesof -needles, a reciprocating main yarn carrier, a pair of reinforcing yam -carriers and a pair of -late1fally shiftable loop transferring point combs, which comprises -k nitting the leg as a narrowed web down to the ankle; thereupon forming laterally-extending hee] projections at opposite edges of the blank by periodically increasing the throw of the main yarn carrier and at the same time outwardly .transferring groups of end loops at opposite sides of the blank from'the needles on which they were formed to adjacent needles; thereuppn shaping the bottoms of the heel projections by decreasing the traverse of the main yarn carrier and the outward throw of the reinfoicing. yarn carriers and concurrently transferring end groups 

